Do your homework, make a viewing plan for Sunday's Oscars

FILE - In this March 2, 2014 file photo, an Oscar statue is displayed at the Oscars in Los Angeles. Nominees for best films for the 90th Academy Awards can be viewed in a variety of places, including in theaters, via streaming services and video rental services. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File) NYET607

Preparing for the 90th Annual Academy Awards requires mental and physical endurance, lots of studying, a bit of deep breathing and some good faith stomach stretching.

We are here to help you. If you’re feeling uneasy about this year’s awards, given the unpleasant reality of Hollywood’s sexual transgressions revealed with such tenacious vigor in 2017 and beyond, it’s understandable. But the best thing you can do is arm yourself with information to become a wiser, more thoughtful consumer of cinema.

Times movie critic Steve Persall did a deep dive into the data this year, performing an unscientific examination of all the best actress and best actor winners in Oscar’s 89 previous ceremonies. What did he find? Women are twice as likely to be awarded for playing victims, whereas men routinely reap awards for playing flawed heroic types with something to overcome. Read the analysis, as well as predictions for this year’s winners, at tampabay.com/movies/.

There’s much to discuss with other movie fans. If you prefer to get out of the house and find like-minded chatters, you have a couple of options. The glitziest Oscars party in town is Sunday at the Tampa Theatre, find the details here. The Sunscreen Film Festival is hosting a watch party Sunday at the Princess Martha in St. Petersburg. Get in for $40 and enjoy hors d’oeuvres, a glass of champagne, red-carpet photographs and a silent auction, with multiple viewing screens for the show. sunscreenfilmfestival.com.

If you’re going to stay in or have friends over, here’s a checklist:

Food: Foodis very important. There are a couple of directions to go, just as there were a couple of directions Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway could have gone announcing last year’s best picture winner. You could have a theme party replete with fancy little interpretations of the movies. Be sure to check out Times food editor Michelle Stark’s ideas and recipes. You won’t want to miss the Shape of Sparkling Water, Phantom Bread, Lady Bird Food and Call Me by Your Tartlet. There’s also the direction I typically take, which is to order the biggest pizza I can find and eat it systematically, with little shame.

Pajamas: Or likewise comfortable clothes with a waist that gives more than it takes. May I suggest something in the shape of a circus tent, or a very billowy beach cabana? One must look one’s worst when critiquing the fashions of others. Related: Follow along with me as I live-tweet the red carpet starting at 6 p.m. Sunday at our style Twitter handle, @TBTimesStyle.

Meditative practice: You will need calming, centering tools in your arsenal for when your favorite movie gets robbed in favor of one that three people in Brooklyn saw. Likewise for when you discover after the awards show that someone wore a #TimesUp pin who really shouldn’t have.

The story of prostitution, stripping and crime is becoming a movie called Zola. The production has been filming in the Tampa Bay area since Oct. 29, confirmed St.Petersburg-Clearwater film commissioner Tony Armer.

The season is stocked with awards hopefuls and familiar faces, including The Grinch (Nov. 9), the Potterverse (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Nov. 16), a superhero (Aquaman, Dec. 21) and even Mary Poppins, y'all (Mary Poppins Returns, Dec. 19).

Everett wrote, directed and stars in this almost unbearably bittersweet feast for the senses, which spotlights playwright and author Oscar Wilde, the 20th century’s first true pop celebrity, in decay far past his prime.

Written and directed by Jonah Hill, the film is an immersion in the sights and sound of a pop-cultural moment. Like its teen protagonist, it struggles for identity, and the struggle makes it interesting as well as occasionally frustrating.